Another Former Client Killed

When I worked in misdemeanors in the Public Defenders Office, I represented thousands of people and a lot of the memories run together. However, when I glanced at a section of Sunday's paper this morning, on my way out the door to a sentencing at 9 am in a neighboring county, I recognized the name of a shooting victim from last weekend. I don't remember him very well, but remember Shyton Sherrod as very friendly and quick to laugh. I believe he even laughed at the way I mispronounced and then later practiced pronouncing his name to get it right. If I pulled the file and reread my notes, more memories might be "refreshed."

When I read the article, I was surprised to learn that Shyton played on the same team and was even called better than former Husker star Ahman Green:

Shyton D. Sherrod made "the block of the season" during the National Youth Football Championship in 1991, allowing North Omaha Boys Club Bears teammate Ahman Green to score a critical touchdown in a game the team won.

Sherrod was as talented a player as Green, said Raymond Parks, former offensive line coach for the Bears.

"There was some discussion as to who was the better player," Parks said. "They both had the potential to go on to bigger, better things."

November has been a bad month in Omaha as the death is the eighth homicide in the city so far this month and the 40th of the year.